This disclosure relates to a structural component of a vehicle, such as a hood system, in particular a plastic hood system.
Hood systems (also referred to herein as “hood”) are large component members of a vehicle body that rotate around a hinge when they open or close. Hoods allow access to engine components in the front of a vehicle, such as a truck. To ensure sufficient strength and stiffness at potentially raised temperatures typically metal or thermoset materials are used to manufacture the hood.
Because the weight of a vehicle body has an impact on the fuel consumption of the vehicle, attempts have been made to produce hoods from lower density materials, such as polymeric materials, in an effort to reduce the overall weight of the vehicle. The use of polymeric materials reduces the overall weight, but might require design modifications in order to meet the needed structural integrity to accommodate loads placed on the hood, such as the aerodynamic loads while driving or the opening and closing the hood repeatedly. There remains a need for a design that allows the use of plastic for a vehicle hood, while still meeting the different stiffness requirements of the hood.
Attempts to increase the panel stiffness and torsional rigidity include increasing the thickness of components of the hood. The use of reinforcements, such as ribs, can affect the ability to efficiently run wires, cables, or the like on the surface of the component. In addition, ribs and other reinforcements negatively impact the aesthetic quality of the component because such features can leave visible imperfections on the components, thus requiring an aesthetic layer (or panel) to provide a finished appearance; again increasing weight and cost.
Accordingly, a need exists for a light-weight hood with high torsional and bending stiffness without diminishing the functional and/or aesthetic quality of the component.